Bulls, Sharks in big battle
Physical clash on the cards as rivals meet
SCRUM battle, breakdown battle, physical battle, battle of the packs and battle of the backs – these hostilities will dominate when the Bulls and Sharks clash at Loftus Versfeld tonight, according to the two camps.
Both teams have been complimentary of each other in the build-up to the 7pm Super Rugby clash which will signal the season’s first meeting between the two South African rivals.
Each side have stressed their wariness of each other’s strengths, aspects of the game both have indicated to have worked hard on to counter the threats.
“They don’t give you gainline,” Bulls coach Nollis Marais said of his opponents.
“They are very physical. They carry the ball up to you. They try to get into space with their forwards. The forwards dominate, and then they use their backs.
“We will try to manipulate their play as best we can by using our attack against them, but we definitely will not make things easy for them here.”
Bulls captain Adriaan Strauss added: “They’ve been very physical in their last couple of games. They have a very good first phase, their scrums are solid, they enjoy the driving maul.
“We know they will be coming to Loftus wanting to dominate those areas. We will be up for it. Here at Loftus we want to create that culture where the forwards do their bit.”
Despite being overwhelming favourites going into the match – although their last victory over the Pretoria side was in February two years ago – the Sharks, who have won both their games so far, will not underestimate the Bulls.
The Bulls will still have their tails up after their 45-25 win over the Melbourne Rebels in their previous match, an encounter Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold describes as “outstanding”.
“I thought their performance against the Rebels was outstanding. You again saw the performance the Rebels put up a week later against the Reds, so that proved that it was no mean feat what the Bulls did.”
Both sides have faced the Stormers in the competition, with the Bulls suffering a 33-9 defeat in the opening week after a shoddy second-half performance, while the Sharks beat the Cape side 18-13 last weekend.
Despite beating the Stormers, Gold believes it was the Bulls who put in the better performance against their mutual foe.
“The Bulls had one poor half in this competition – that was the second half against the Stormers. They were outstanding in the first half, they put the Stormers to the sword more so than we did,” the Sharks mentor said.
“Nollis has brought on a more feared attacking edge. When you see the backs they have at their disposal – Bjorn Basson is one of the best aerial wingers in world rugby, their centres, the danger they have at No 9 – they are a formidable unit.”